My cousin installed a game on her new copy of Windows 7, 64 bit edition and her son’s favorite game refused to play on it.
They spent some hours trying to get it to operate without much luck.
I’m mentioning this because I’ve seen time and time again the issue of a problem being solved by the key bit of data.
In this case the key piece of data was that the game worked once before it stopped working. An unasked question by me, this was the deciding factor in getting things in shape so that the game was playable.
I tried running the program as administrator and tested each of the compatibility modes. I looked for both recent and fall-back drivers for the video card. I tried reinstalling.
What I didn’t take into account was that there was a folder brought over from a 32bit operating system with the saved data in it. Unfortunately there was 32 bit dll file that was gumming it up. Once deleted (what a uninstall/reinstall didn’t manage), the game worked fine. But not hearing that the game did indeed run successfully at *some point* was what I was missing.
Time and time again when troubleshooting problems with networks and computers this simple fact of the missing piece of information usually fixes the issue.
Looking over facts again. Asking different questions. Re-evaluating assumptions and guesses.
In order to troubleshoot, you have to ask questions and you have to have a theory about the situation. And going on that theory isn’t a bad thing to do, but often headstrong folks like myself will overlook some of the interview details, leaving a key piece of information unused or un-found and head off in search of answers that lead down dead-end roads.
No one likes to waste their time.
From my experience it is the history of the problem that reveals the key information, and gathering the history may sometimes seem like a waste of time when you can get right to work testing out different theories.
That isn’t a bad thing to do. Test away. Just be sure not to shut off your ears to new information. Because that’s usually when the key piece of information pops out at you, just waiting to be snatched up and used to clear the roadblock.
The entire troubleshooting process (like many things) isn’t set in stone. Approximation, testing and revision. Approximation, testing and revision. This is what will get you to the finish line without it being a terribly bumpy ride.
It’s also a little less embarrassing (and more honest) than the cycle of “certainty and ouch”.